Laws of UX Design — Part 1

User Experience (UX): A must in web design 🌐

User experience (UX) plays a crucial role in web design, as it directly influences how users interact with a website and how positive their experience is. There are several basic laws of UX design that, when used correctly, can significantly improve usability and satisfaction without significant effort. In this article, we'll take a look at some of these laws and discuss how they can be applied to websites.

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1. Jacob's Law: Man is a creature of habit 🧠

Jacob's Law of Internet User Experience states that users prefer to use websites they already know. This underscores the importance of using familiar design patterns and interfaces. Keep your website intuitive by following common conventions such as placing the logo in the top-left corner or using a hamburger menu for mobile viewing. It's best to place elements such as the language selection or search bar in the most common places - say at the top right.

Bad news for your super avant-garde, unusual design: Sometimes it's actually better to stick to familiar patterns so as not to scare off your users.

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2. Fitts' Law: Minimal effort, maximum success 🎯

Fitts's law relates to the time it takes to reach a goal based on the size of the goal and the distance to it. In web design, this means that important elements such as call-to-action buttons should be large enough and well placed to facilitate interaction. Interactive elements should also not be placed too close together to avoid accidental clicks.

Tip: Touch targets for the mobile view of your website should be large enough. Google's Material Design gives a guideline of at least 48x48px here.

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3. Hick's Law: Less choice, faster response ⚡

Hick's Law states that the time it takes to make a decision increases with the number and complexity of choices. When applied to websites, this means that too many choices or cluttered menus can overwhelm users. To avoid this, focus on clear, easy navigation and remove unnecessary options to reduce decision time.

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4. Miller's Law: Simplicity and structure 📚

Miller's Law, based on the findings of psychologist George A. Miller, states that human short-term memory can only handle 7 (plus or minus 2) units of information at a time. In UX design, this principle is critical to avoid cluttered user interfaces and maximize usability.

Application to your website:

• Simplified navigation: Limit the number of menu options to avoid being overwhelmed.
• Clear content structure: Break information down into smaller units to make recording easier.
• Keep forms minimalistic: Reduce form fields to the bare minimum so as not to overburden users.
• Use visual hierarchy: Set visual accents to highlight important content and focus attention in a targeted manner.

Applying Miller's Law improves user experience by helping to organize information more effectively and make the user interface more intuitive. A simple, clearly structured structure not only promotes user satisfaction, but also increases their engagement and conversion rates.

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5. Postel's Law: Flexibility and Robustness 🛡️

Postel's law, often summarized as the principle of robustness, states: “Be conservative in what you send and liberal in what you receive.” Originally designed for software development, it also offers valuable insights in UX design for designing user-friendly interfaces.

Key points for your design:

• Error-friendliness: Design systems that accept a wide range of user input and provide clear instructions for corrections to minimize frustration.
• Adaptive/responsive design: Make sure that your designs work well on different devices and screen sizes to provide a consistently high user experience for all users.
• Tolerance: Systems should be able to correct minor input errors independently without having the user laboriously correct them.

Applying Postel's Law helps to create an inclusive and forgiving environment that increases user satisfaction and retention by considering and supporting a wide range of ways of interaction.

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Applying these laws in practice 🛠️

Applying these UX laws requires a balance between following best practices and creating unique, brand-specific experiences. It's best to get a clear understanding of your target group and their needs. Then use these laws to create a hierarchical structure in your design that intuitively guides the user through your website.

User feedback is also extremely important to understand how real people interact with your site.

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Summary:

• Jacob's Law: Use familiar patterns.
• Fitts's law: Important elements large and well placed
• Hick's Law: Less is more.
• Miller's Law: Simple and clear structure
• Postel's law: Be flexible and robust.
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With these principles, you create a user-friendly and efficient website that promotes user satisfaction and loyalty. 🚀

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